MCLAREN'S MISERY: F1 DQ PUTS MAX VERSTAPPEN'S FIFTH TITLE WITHIN REACH
Max Verstappen's 5th F1 title is in sight after McLaren's Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri are disqualified from the Las Vegas GP. A post-race skid plank violation causes a massive swing in the championship standings with two races left.
Max Verstappen's quest for a fifth straight Formula 1 championship got a boost after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were disqualified after Saturday's Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Verstappen's victory narrowed the point difference between him and Norris to just 42 with two races left. But, a few hours later, McLaren was called to the stewards for failing inspection.
The issue? The skid wear on the McLarens didn't meet the minimum thickness rules. This protective plank on the car's underside had worn too thin, a problem that also led to Lewis Hamilton's disqualification earlier in the year.
McLaren's Andrea Stella explained that the cars were bottoming out more than they had in earlier practices, causing extra ground contact. He noted the damage to both cars was accidental and that the FIA agreed there was no intent to break the rules, acknowledging the circumstances.
Stella apologised to Norris and Piastri for the lost points at such a key point in their championship hopes, after strong outings all weekend. He said that, while it was disappointing, the team is still focused on the last two races.
The disqualifications shook up the standings, stripping Norris and Piastri of all points earned in Las Vegas. Norris went from a 30-point lead over Piastri and 42 over Verstappen to just 24 points ahead of Verstappen, with Piastri holding second based on his number of wins.
Verstappen has won the last two races in Qatar, where F1 heads next, and four of the last five in Abu Dhabi, where the season ends on Dec. 7.
It's quite a comeback for the Dutchman, who seemed out of it earlier in the year. Even after winning in Las Vegas, Verstappen wasn't focused on the championship.
He said that while there's still a big gap, they maximise what they have. He aimed to win again. They will see where they stand at the end of Abu Dhabi.
Las Vegas marked Verstappen's second win in four races. The four-time reigning champ continues to push his way back into title contention, despite his dislike for the event.
Verstappen’s issue comes from the focus on celebrities and parties instead of the race. But he always performs when he gets in the car.
He said some fans like the show, and some like different tracks. He prefers some weekends over others and is not really a showman but understands it's part of the Vegas experience.
Las Vegas was Verstappen’s 69th career win. It was his eighth straight podium, an F1-record eighth win in the U.S., and he beat points leader Norris by over 20 seconds.
Verstappen started second, taking the lead when Norris went wide trying to cut in front at the start.
Norris admitted fault, saying he let Verstappen win by braking too late.
After the first turn, Norris was stuck in third, and Piastri dropped from fifth to seventh. The two McLaren drivers have been battling for the lead in the standings all season.
Before being disqualified, Norris finished second, and Russell was third. Russell now takes second.
Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes crossed the line fourth, but a penalty moved him to fifth, putting Piastri in fourth before he was disqualified. Antonelli is now third.
Piastri hasn't won since the Dutch Grand Prix in August and has just one podium finish in the seven races since. He seems to accept that his title hopes are fading.
Piastri said the first lap was wild, and he will try his best for the next two races to be ready. He said there's still a lot of laps left, and he'll try his best to capitalise if that happens.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton, the biggest mover of the race, qualified 20th after Ferrari's first last-place qualifying result since '09. He finished eighth.
Charles Leclerc was credited with fourth for Ferrari, as he and Hamilton both finished in the points after failing to finish in Brazil, which drew criticism from Ferrari's John Elkann.
THE 2026 SHIFT: CARLOS SAINZ WARNS THAT F1’S NEW 50:50 POWER SPLIT NEEDS FLEXIBILITY
A new era begins: Discover why Carlos Sainz is urging the FIA to remain open to rule changes before the 2026 Australian Grand Prix.
Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz wants the FIA and Formula One Management to keep an open mind about the new regulations. He points out that, after some real-world running, there’s a chance they’ll need to tweak a few things.
With pre-season testing in Bahrain wrapped up, every team’s attention is on the first race in Australia, set for March 6-8. The new rules are a big deal this year; they call for a nearly 50:50 split between internal combustion and electric power, along with a pile of other changes. Sainz spoke to Motorsport.com about how tough energy harvesting could get at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
“Yeah, Melbourne’s going to be tougher, no doubt,” he said in Bahrain. “But honestly, I can’t say exactly how tough, because I haven’t run the simulator with the new calibrations for Melbourne yet.”
He went on, “My message to FOM and the FIA is pretty simple: at the start of the year, let’s stay open to making changes if it turns out these new rules are a bit over the top when it comes to energy harvesting or deployment during a lap. Some tracks might be fine, maybe even Bahrain, though I’m not fully convinced based on what we’ve seen so far.
“But tracks like Melbourne or Jeddah, where energy demands are higher, we might have to rethink things a bit.
“Honestly, it’s a huge shift for everyone. Nobody really knew how much drag or downforce these new cars would have, or what kind of deployment levels teams could manage. So all I’m asking is that we stay flexible, just in case we need to fine-tune things to keep the racing exciting.
“That’s really my only point. We should stay flexible, not lock ourselves into a set approach to energy management.”
CHASING HISTORY: OSCAR PIASTRI FIGHTS TO END AUSTRALIA’S 46-YEAR WAIT FOR AN F1 TITLE
F1 news: Piastri eyes the crown. Get the report on Alan Jones’s psychological secrets and the battle within the McLaren garage.
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Alan Jones probably wondered if his record as the last Australian Formula 1 world champion was finally under threat when Oscar Piastri took the win at Zandvoort last year. Suddenly, McLaren had a star on their hands. With nine races to go, Piastri pulled 34 points clear of Lando Norris after Norris’s car broke down at the Dutch Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was still hanging back, not looking like much of a threat, at least not yet. Almost no one thought Verstappen would end up ahead of Piastri by the time they got to Abu Dhabi.
Everyone’s been talking about McLaren’s choices between their two drivers and whether Piastri struggles more on low-grip tracks on those weekends where he lost most of his points. But if you look back, Alan Jones had a totally different mindset from the drivers you see on the grid today.
For Piastri to finally close out a title, maybe he needs to steal a page from Jones’s book. When Jones took the championship in 1980, he did things his own way.
Jones once said being a “loner” was his secret in F1. In the Drivers on Drivers book, he got pretty honest about how he kept his distance from everyone else. “I used to keep everyone at arm’s length. I never went out of my way to be mates with any of them,” he said. “I was very much a loner. I don’t know if it was out of fear or giving something away; I don’t know what it was. I’d never go down and lounge around the pool with the others in South Africa, Brazil, or Argentina. I’d just stay in my room. I was self-centred. I was there to do a job, and that was it.”
He even hated staying in the same hotel as the guys he was racing. Sometimes, he’d even change flights if there were too many other drivers on his plane. He just didn’t want to reveal anything, not even a glimpse of his personality. “I wasn’t racing against them as people; I was racing against them as things, as objects,” he said. “You’d spot a black Lotus or a red Ferrari and know who was in it, but it didn’t matter. It was just an object you had to pass.”
Now, Piastri’s situation is pretty different. These days, you can’t really hide from the world if you’re an F1 driver. Even though Piastri’s not the loudest guy on the grid, he’s built a big fanbase with his dry sense of humour; people even compare him to Kimi Raikkonen. Still, the social media era means he can’t be as private as Jones was back in the day. He’s often seen travelling to races with other drivers like George Russell and Alex Albon.
Piastri admitted recently that he’s not sure exactly what he needs to do to become a world champion. Maybe Jones’s old-school advice is the key to helping him make that final step, turning him from a contender into a champion.
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